Growing Greener Update:
Give a Green Thumbs Up to Protect Land and Water!
By Katherine Smitherman
Director of Public Policy
Thank you to the volunteer advocates who supported the Quality of Life - Growing Greener II proposal by contacting your legislators and/or attending rallies to promote the protection and restoration of water, land and communities! The abundance of visits, letters, phone calls and emails to your legislators and executive branch officials were invaluable in making headway with Growing Greener II.
In July, the Pennsylvania General Assembly did not pass legislation that would allow citizens to vote for the allocation of $800 million to protect open space, protect farms and forests for future generations, restore polluted land and water, revitalize Pennsylvania’s communities, and restore wildlife habitat and improve water quality through the Conservation Reserve Enhancement program.
However, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy is encouraged that the Pennsylvania General Assembly and Governor Rendell are committed to working together to address the importance and critical need to protect, conserve and restore our water, land and communities. In July, the Pennsylvania General Assembly called for the creation off a “Green Ribbon Commission” to “jointly study and develop recommendations for environmental programs and to determine the best funding options.” The Commission will be made up of members from the General Assembly and the administration.
Additional funding would buttress the existing Growing Greener program. Growing Greener has protected and restored our natural resources while generating millions to match funding given by the state. It has successfully funded stream cleanup, farmland protection, park improvements, restoration of mine lands and brownfields cleanup. Although the first five years of the Growing Greener program have led to the accomplishment of remarkable things, the surface of the monumental list of problems has only been scratched.
According to the recent Brookings Institution report (Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania), our state is facing serious challenges— challenges that threaten our most precious assets: our superb and productive natural landscapes and our once-thriving older neighborhoods.
The state is losing its farmland, forests and fields at a rate of 300 acres per day, but is conserving approximately one acre for every three acres developed. Pennsylvania developed nearly four acres of land for every new resident between 1982 and 1997, compared to the national average of 0.60 acres per new resident. As older communities decline, residents move out of town and into the countrysides where sprawl threatens wildlife, consumes farmlands and fragments forests.
It is in our long-term best interest to renew older communities, as Pennsylvania’s physical growth is linked to economic growth. Older towns and cities must overcome a less than positive post-industrial reputation. Pennsylvania has at least 5,000 abandoned mine sites encompassing nearly 200,000 acres of degraded land. And abandoned mine drainage renders more than 3,000 miles of stream unfit for fishing or swimming. Estimates of the cost to repair the vast damage range from $3 billion to $15 billion. Compounding acid mine drainage is the fact that polluted runoff from agricultural fields degrades 3,000 miles of state streams.
Since legislation may be enacted next spring, please continue to contact your legislators in support of Growing Greener II, and share information about the conservation needs in your community. To find and contact your legislators, please visit http://capwiz.com/paconserve/home/.
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy looks forward to working with advocates across the state to advance a bipartisan-led expansion of Growing Greener. To find out more about the progress of Growing Greener II and the Green Ribbon Commission, visit www.paconserve/growinggreener2.org, or contact Katherine Smitherman, director of public policy, at 412-586-2380 or ksmitherman@paconserve.org.
Go to the next story... 
